In recent years, traditional fuel dispensers have evolved into elaborate point-of-sale (PoS) devices having sophisticated control electronics and user interfaces with larger displays and easier-to-use user interfaces. The fuel dispensers may include various types of payment means, such as card readers and cash acceptors, to expedite and further enhance fueling transactions. Further, customers are not limited to the purchase of fuel at these dispensers. Newer dispensers allow the customer to purchase services, such as car washes, and goods, such as fast food or convenience store products. Once purchased, the customer needs only pick up the goods and services at the station store or the outlet of a vending machine.
In addition to local transactions, various types of information services are being provided at the fuel dispenser. In particular, Internet-related services are now being provided at the fuel dispenser. These services range from allowing customers to view various web pages to obtain desired information to supplying predefined advertising information to the customer via local or remote content servers. Additional information may be found in the following commonly assigned applications entitled INTERNET CAPABLE BROWSER DISPENSER ARCHITECTURE: U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,629, issued Apr. 18, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,866, issued Feb. 22, 2000; Ser. No. 09/500,094, filed Feb. 8, 2000; Ser. No. 09/499,979, filed Feb. 8, 2000; and Ser. No. 09/828,050, filed Apr. 5, 2001, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of fuel dispensers already in existence include displays and associated input devices that are insufficient for supporting web-based interaction. Further, many of the fuel dispensers fail to include the necessary control electronics to readily support such interaction.
Preferably, an interface supporting web browsing includes a large graphical display along with an intuitive and easy to use device to receive customer input. Most existing fuel dispensers and kiosks lack these features. Further, most are unable to provide web interaction without significant implementation costs associated with establishing the interface and providing content and control thereof. As such, there is a need for an efficient and economical way to provide web content and support web interaction at fuel dispensers or similarly situated kiosks.